Siheyuan: Taking over the steel mill

Although the two sisters were at home, they did not say a word to dissuade them, hiding behind their grandmother like silent gourds.

This situation made Sha Zhu deeply disappointed. In a hurry, he came up with a new plan.

He was full of energy and went straight to his apprentice Ma Hua.

Ma Hua is enjoying a comfortable stay at home and as the year is coming to an end, he does not need to go out to work.

Seeing the master coming to visit in a hurry, Ma Hua was a little surprised. He had never expected that he would come at this time.

Sha Zhu said to Ma Hua with red eyes: "My disciple, can you lend me some money first? I plan to do business, and I will repay you with profits in the future."

Although he felt extremely embarrassed, he was short of money and no employer was willing to hire him at the end of the year. He had no choice but to set up a stall on his own to make a living.

All along, Sha Zhu had never asked for money from anyone, as his pride made it difficult for him to do so. However, at this moment, he was so anxious that he did not think twice and asked his apprentice for a loan as soon as he saw him.

Seeing his master's red eyes and disordered breathing, Ma Hua couldn't help but feel shocked.

Normally, the master never showed such impatience and always treated people with a cheerful attitude. Therefore, seeing this scene, Ma Hua was more certain that the master might be in trouble.

Then Ma Hua took out the money and gave it to the master without hesitation, saying, "Take it, Master. You can return it to me anytime. I am not in a hurry."

It was the first time that he saw Master so anxious, and Master had always responded with a smile and never lost his composure in the past. This made Ma Hua more convinced that this incident was not an ordinary one, so he trusted him more and quickly offered help.

Faced with Ma Hua's generous help, Sha Zhu was deeply moved. He had not made a mistake in choosing the disciple he had chosen, and he could indeed rely on him.

Deep down in his heart, Sha Zhu silently vowed: This time he will definitely make a comeback, and relying on his craftsmanship to set up a stall selling buns, he will surely be a great success.

The plan was set, and he turned around and found Xu Damao.

At this time, Xu Damao had been kicked out by Jia Zhang, and Yi Zhonghai was not spared either.

After meeting Xu Damao, Sha Zhu took out a portion of the money he had borrowed and handed it to him: "Please help me buy some ingredients from the market. I want to open a shop selling buns."

Now they are in a similar situation, like grasshoppers on the same rope. Although Sha Zhu still despises Xu Damao and thinks he is a despicable villain, in view of Xu Damao's sincere repentance, Sha Zhu decides to trust him again temporarily.

Xu Damao took the money from Sha Zhu and was secretly surprised, guessing that the money might have come from Sha Zhu's secret savings.

With a thought in mind, Xu Damao immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll go buy it right away."

After arranging the purchase, Sha Zhu went to prepare other equipment on his own.

Even for a seemingly simple job like setting up a stall, he has his own standards and requirements for tools, so he plans to do it himself.

The two men acted separately, and Xu Damao walked towards the vegetable market with the money.

On the way, when he passed by a place where a group of people gathered to play cards, his inner gambling addiction was triggered.

I used to not care much about playing cards, but after watching "God of Gamblers", I always had a dream that I would get rich from it in the future.

Although he lost all his money and even his savings in gambling, Xu Damao still firmly believed that he had some kind of gambling talent.

Otherwise, how could he master the rules of ** so easily?

Therefore, when Xu Damao saw people gathering together to play cards on the roadside, he couldn't help but feel eager to try it.

He hesitated for a moment, thinking of the purchasing task assigned by Sha Zhu, but when he thought that he could make more money through ** and perhaps buy more abundant ingredients, he convinced himself to accept this adventure.

After all, the money given by Sha Zhu was not enough to allow him to have extra choices in the ingredients he bought, but if he earned more, he might have more choices.

With this thought in mind, Xu Damao walked to the card table on the side of the road without hesitation and took the money.

At that time, due to the popularity of the movie "God of Gamblers", many people on the street imitated the gambling in the movie and began to organize small-scale gambling games. These people did not expect to make a fortune in this way, but were just curious and imitated the skills in "God of Gamblers".

Xu Damao's participation was warmly welcomed by other gamblers.

Their stakes were not as huge as those of the casino. After Xu Damao sat down, he found that most people were playing with chips of a few cents or one dollar, which made him feel very relieved. Even if he lost, he would probably only lose a few dollars. This level of loss was completely within his acceptable range.

Relying on the skills he had honed in the martial arts, Xu Damao was sure that these people on the corner would not be his opponents.

When he relaxed, his arrogant attitude was revealed again, and he boasted to the people around him: "Today I will show you what a real 'God of Gamblers' is!"

The reactions of the onlookers were a mixture of interest and teasing. "Hey, my friend, you seem to be quite good. How about you try first?" Then they all gave way to give Xu Damao the best position.

With such treatment, Xu Damao became even more complacent, and he held his head high as if to show his absolute confidence in victory.

"I have watched God of Gamblers five times and have been through the baptism of **. I don't believe that ordinary people like you can beat me."

He confidently fiddled with the cards on the table and said, "Hurry up and deal!"

The other players looked at each other and then replied with a sly smile: "It's up to you, please!" The game began. Xu Damao got a good hand of cards and was secretly happy, thinking that he was particularly lucky today. He quickly dealt the cards and had a complete deck in his hand.

When the deck of cards was placed on the table, other players were amazed that Xu Damao had won the game. After several exchanges, Xu Damao not only did not lose money, but also nearly doubled his initial capital, further confirming his status as the "God of Gamblers".

He smiled triumphantly, intending to press on with his victory and continue raising the bet.

But it seemed that his good luck ended there. No matter how hard he tried or how much he prayed, the cards in his hand were always mediocre. The result was usually that he either lost to his opponent or barely maintained an undefeated situation.

After several rounds, Xu Damao's face became increasingly ugly due to the wins and losses at the gambling table. Faced with continued losses, he desperately asked to continue.

Although there were a few short-term victories in the following games, overall Xu Damao's funds gradually shrank, and in the end there was only a tiny amount of money left in his pocket.

Let alone buying food with this little money, it would be difficult to even buy a piece of meat. At this time, Xu Damao finally realized that he had lost everything again. The gamblers around him were still trying to persuade him to continue playing, but Xu Damao suddenly came to his senses, stood up and left the gambling table: "No more! I'm not lucky today."

After leaving the gambling table, Xu Damao counted the few pieces of change in his hand and fell into deep thought.

Meanwhile, Sha Zhu was busy preparing the utensils needed for today's stall. Because he had just been kicked out of the Jia family this morning, he couldn't go back to get the tools he was supposed to bring with him, so he could only make do with some materials. Sha Zhu, who hadn't been a chef for a long time, also needed to get used to these equipment.

Even though his skills were not bad, it was inevitable that he would be a little rusty after not practicing for a long time. Now, Sha Zhu's mind was all on the stall tomorrow, and he had no idea that Xu Damao had lost all his money.

Sha Zhu was immersed in his own beautiful fantasy, imagining that tomorrow there would be a crowd of people in front of his stall, people lining up to taste his cooking, and then the money would roll in. He never thought about whether it was reliable to give the money to Xu Damao, after all, he believed that Xu Damao had truly reformed and became the upright person he was before.

On the other side, Xu Damao stared at the coins in his hand, full of regret. If he hadn't been so confident that he could make a fortune, he wouldn't be in this situation now. Thinking of ** making him penniless again, Xu Damao blamed himself even more: Why did he think he was the protagonist in the movie "God of Gamblers" and could get everything easily?

Seeing that this insignificant amount of money was not even enough to buy half a piece of meat, Xu Damao was filled with regret and anger.

But he was helpless at the moment. He only had this much money in his hand, and he had to complete the task of buying food as Sha Zhu asked him to do.

After thinking for a while, Xu Damao came up with the only solution - to use the money to buy some cheap dead pork.

The quality of dead pig meat is low, and few businesses on the market are willing to sell it openly. For a chef like Sha Zhu, it is a defective product that he would not even bother to look at.

But at present, the money in Xu Damao's hands can only be used to buy the kind of meat that others are unwilling to touch.

Xu Damao walked towards the vegetable market, looking a little embarrassed, but still trying to remain calm, and came to the meat stall.

The vendor approached him in a friendly manner and asked, "Sir, what would you like to buy today?"

Xu Damao rubbed his hands, forced a smile, and said, "Please give me a few dollars of dead pork."

The vendor's face changed when he heard this, and he quickly shook his head: "No, this won't do this kind of business. You are spreading misunderstandings."

In today’s market, very few people dare to openly sell dead pork, and even if someone takes the risk, they will do so very secretly.

Of course, vendors will not easily admit that they have such goods for sale.

Seeing this, Xu Damao became even more anxious. He looked around to make sure no one else noticed and whispered, "I'm just taking it home for use. I won't tell anyone else."

Considering that the other party's attitude was quite sincere and there was no one around, the vendor hesitated for a while and finally waved to Xu Damao: "Come with me."

Today's morning market has not yet started, and the stall owner has welcomed his first customer. Although this deal is a bit strange, he can only agree to it. After seeing the situation, Xu Damao followed the stall owner with a smile on his face, thinking that the task was finally completed. Although the meat of dead pigs is not popular, it is at least a meat resource.

The two tiptoed to the warehouse at the back. At the place where dead pork was piled up, the stall owner whispered to Xu Damao: "We have everything here, just pick it." Faced with such a scene, Xu Damao's eyes lit up. He himself didn't understand the situation, so he let the stall owner casually weigh some weights and spent all the money he had.